Finally. Thirty-two months after the project was announced at Comic-Con, Warner Bros’ Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justiceis seeing the light of day in every corner of the world with an estimated global opening of $350M on 35,000 screens. Worldwide, that would make BvS the second-best pre-summer and Easter debut behind Furious 7‘s $397.7M. Among all-time global debuts, F7 ranks fourth.

While Disney started the buzz for Star Wars: The Force Awakens 13 months in advance of its December 2015 release with a teaser trailer, BvS director Zack Snyder dropped the first BvS teaser 20 months agoat Comic-Con 2014. Anticipation and expectations are high for BvS:This is essentially Warner Bros. and DC’s take on Avengers, not only putting the beloved DC characters into one pot and introducing news ones — Aquaman and Wonder Woman — but a tee-off that will propel both Batman and Superman franchises to another stratosphere cinematically with the Justice League universe. One observer said last night’s New York City premiere at Radio City Music Hall “was like a rock concert” with rolling screams from the audience as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman hit the screen.

Easter isn’t a holiday to laugh about at the box office, and more studios are taking the frame seriously as it’s a good time to grab audiences on break around the globe. Warner Bros even scheduled its next Steven Spielberg film Ready Player One for a worldwide launch on Easter 2018. Furious 7 dashed all biases aside last year that Good Friday was a dull day at the B.O. since it’s a somber Christian holiday. F7 had a very Good Friday last year with a first day that ranked as the best ever for a pre-summer release with $67.4M. Twenty-three percent of that figure was made from Thursday night previews or $15.8M, and the outlook for BvS is that it could pull in a bigger portion of its Friday business from night-before previews. By comparison, Avengers: Age of Ultron made 33% of its $84.4M first day from Thursday showtimes.

Overseas the Dark Knight and the Son Jor-El are eyeing $200M in 61 territories, including a touchdown in China. Rival distributors believe in their bones that BvS is headed toward a $150M domestic FSS at 4,200 theaters — the widest pre-summer opening ever, beating the 4,137 venues that The Hunger Games debuted in during the spring of 2012 ($152.5M stateside opening). However, even if the Snyder-directed film for some reason gets dinged by critics and turns up a domestic opening of $110M, it’s not the end of the world. BvS is going to own a majority of the spring. Could it do $200M stateside? Maybe, because as we know it’s always a challenge for B.O. analysts to predict when tracking is jumping off the page. But that $150M figure seems fair. If BvS beats Hunger Games, then it will own the best pre-summer opening of all-time, and if it beats the $147.1M made by F7, then it’s an Easter record.

Already, BvS has logged between $20M-$25M in advance ticket sales at the domestic B.O. before the theater curtain raises on Thursday at 6PM in every format imaginable — Imax, 4DX, PLF; 3,500 3D sites, even 10 70MM prints.

Batman v. Superman carries an estimated production cost of $250M. One well-placed source puts its P&A at an estimated $150M. Risky? Not so much at this level. Not to mention, it’s a beloved property that Warner Bros is handling here. Poseidon, BvS is not. Financial stats have shown that studios profit more from tentpoles during their theatrical run than from lower-budget movies.

While Star Wars: The Force Awakens owns the title of top global opening ever with $528M, that projection for BvS, puts it under such superhero adaptations as Avengers and Age of Ultron(both with a $392.5M debut), Spider-Man 3 ($381.7M), and Iron Man 3 ($372.5M).

The Dawn of Justice team had a fan event in Mexico two days ago that drew 5,000 faithful. That’s a big superhero market, particularly for Batman. The UK premiere is tomorrow night — also a massive spandex play. Leaving the Middle Kingdom in the room to one side, the major markets for the past two stand-alone films, The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and Man of Steel (2013), were a mix of the UK, Australia, Mexico, France, Germany, Brazil and Korea.

But comps here for international are far from apples to apples. Henry Cavill’s unveiling as the son of Jor-El in Man of Steel came in a June frame in 2013 with a $73.3M opening weekend in just 24 markets. Those did not include the majors of China, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Russia, which all were in the sophomore session. BvS, even despite currency fluctuations since, will fly right past that. Importantly, China topped out at about $64M on MoS. It was the biggest market for the movie, and rode the coattails of a historic bow for Marvel rival Iron Man 3 the month before, which arguably set up the new wave of super box office for superhero pics in the Middle Kingdom.

Industry projections are placing BvS anywhere from $50M-$70M for the weekend in China, which would set it up to handily pass $100M during the early run. Ben Affleck, Cavill and Snyder traveled to Beijing to screen the film a couple of weeks ago and get audiences pumped up.

The Dark Knight Rises, the previous Batman movie before Affleck buckled the belt, ultimately did about $53M in the PROC before the market was quite mature (and opened directly opposite The Amazing Spider-Man, which went on to snare $49M at the time). More recent comps include Avengers: Age Of Ultron, with a foreign debut of $201M in just 44 markets that did not include China, and X-Men: Days of Future Past, which kicked off to $172M overseas in a day-and-date rollout in 2014.

A European exhibitor is bullish on BvS‘, with advance ticket sales running along the same lines as the U.S. This person believes that while some people might have been on the fence about seeing Batman fight Superman, the Warner Bros marketing team helped build offshore fervor. Said one insider: “Once the trailers got going and people got into it, they changed. Some trailers make you want to run right out and see it.”

Oh, and by the way, there’s another movie opening at the domestic box office this weekend: Universal’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, a sequel to the 14-year-old comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which was an indie film-turned-blockbuster darling, making $241M over the course of one year. Nia Vardalos stars in and wrote Part 2 as well. Kirk Jones is sitting in the director’s chair on this one, whereas Joel Zwick helmed the original. That film wound up being a huge draw for blue hairs and, ironically, didn’t go wide until its 20th weekend in release, Labor Day 2002, where it made $14.8M over four days ($11.1M FSS). Industry estimates have the sequel with a $15M opening at 3,130 venues. Just like the studio went after women during ForceAwakens‘ opening weekend with Tina Fey-Amy Poehler’s Sisters ($13.9M opening, $87M final), Uni is giving women an oasis at the multiplex with MBFGW2. The estimated production cost on the sequelis $18M and the pic was produced by Gold Circle Entertainment, Playtone and HBO.

Lionsgate’s beaten-down The Divergent Series: Allegiantis expected to drop 60% from its $29M opening for $11.6M. That’s a bit stepper than the -59% sophomore sesh posted by Insurgent (which was $21.5M) and -53% slip by Divergent ($25.6M). Sony/Affirm’s Miracles From Heavenis going to reap the Easter tidings given the high holy weekend. Non-Sony distribution executives see the pic with a $10M weekend, off 32% from its FSS of $14.8M.

74 Comments

Good luck, all you BvS fans. Hope Snyder did well by you all. I’ll sit this one out.

El Ron Diego • on Mar 21, 2016 4:19 pm

Astonishingly, no one cares.

Ghostbusted • on Mar 21, 2016 5:40 pm

funny you are the 1st to post in this thread, which means I’ll see you on opening night

I'm Batman • on Mar 22, 2016 6:09 am

We don’t need luck… sit your magnanimous ass anywhere, no one cares.

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 7:34 am

Thanks for living up to the stereotype of DC Nutjob

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 9:54 am

Yeah, and you’re doing your side so much good. Thanks for correcting the stereotype that Marvel fans are just childish assholes.

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 11:31 am

Wrong. We don’t start it, we FINISH it. Learn the difference. Also I see you guys are 0-2 so far on rottentomatoes. Chew on that a while, wimp

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 2:23 pm

Are you incapable of coming up with something original rather than stealing from me? I’m not here to set trends for you DC Fans, I’m here to set you straight. A MOST formidable task, I assure you

Undercover critic with VPN • on Mar 21, 2016 2:53 pm

I just finished my write-up for the film’s review, I think it is one of the best if not the best superhero film of all-time. This film represents the maturity of the genre. An indicator that comic-book films are no longer held back by the shackles of “realism” and “audiences empathy”.

A couple of my friends who attended the press screening a few days back share my enthusiasm. Zack has a hit and WB discovered a gold mine.

Craig • on Mar 21, 2016 3:37 pm

I’d like to believe you and your credibility, but I’m not sure I do, haha. Do you work for Warner Bros? :)

But honestly, can’t wait to see it! Snyder’s visual alone are worth the price of admission, and I sincerely hope the story is good enough to compliment and not take away this time.

Anonymous • on Mar 21, 2016 4:11 pm

Wow, just because he liked the movie and make a good review about it doesn’t mean he works for WB or anything like that…
Are you sick in the head dude? You should see a Dr. For that kind of issues about fake and unrealistic arguments

Craig • on Mar 21, 2016 5:07 pm

Dang, just being playful, bro- hence the playful “haha’s” and smiley faces. I’d love it be as good as he says but the idea that Zach Snyder has delivered “the maturity of the genre” deserves some cautious optimism until I see it for myself.

Anonymous • on Mar 21, 2016 5:20 pm

Don’t worry about it, Craig. That’s what these overblown DC Nutjobs do is attack en masse. I swear most of them have Major mental problems

Anonymous • on Mar 21, 2016 5:21 pm

Or they’re being paid by Warner Bros to be such obnoxious pricks

Anonymous • on Mar 21, 2016 5:08 pm

Do you work for WB or something?

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 1:14 am

It’s actually then other way. Disney, Fox and Sony all have a vested interest in the success of the Mavel brand so they have instigated a campaign to portray the film and Snyder very negatively and to discredit it even without it been seen or reviewed. This campaign began last August with Twitter bots posting the same negative comments accross multiple accounts, they actually changed the message yesterday to a different one after the N.Y. premier to discredit further so the D.C. fans that turn on u will actually be real fans who are just sick of the trolls being paid to bad mouth something they hold dear

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 7:33 am

You’re an idiot & a Fool & a liar. In fact you epitomize the very stereotype of DC Nutjob. Congratulations, Moron. You should be proud

El Ron Diego • on Mar 21, 2016 4:20 pm

Where is your “write-up” being seen? Aside from on your mother’s fridge, I mean…

Anonymous • on Mar 21, 2016 4:24 pm

Where’s the review?

Lara Q • on Mar 21, 2016 5:41 pm

Yeah, I`ll wait and see what the real reviews say tomorrow.

milo • on Mar 23, 2016 3:53 pm

Real reviews are up and mostly negative. Will be interesting to see if it hurts opening day or weekend. Doubtful it has decent legs but I guess we’ll see if the cinemascore is better than the reviews.

Gerry • on Mar 21, 2016 9:33 pm

Obvious studio plant is very obvious

meta • on Mar 21, 2016 10:56 pm

ya never mind realism in movies, why on Earth was that every a thing anyways?

Rod • on Mar 21, 2016 11:28 pm

LOL Anyone can claim to be anything on the internet. I can’t imagine any paid professional critics posting a comment like this but nice try. It probably is the best film EVER with Superman and Batman in it, though

Will • on Mar 21, 2016 4:02 pm

More pumped by the positive word of mouth now… the studio had to hear about people’s concerns regarding the trailers. Hope there’s enough out there for both major film releases (BvS, MBFGW2) to do business.

I saw it at an advance screening. It’s great, but it’s different than Marvel movies, so they shouldn’t really be compared. Marvel movies are largely light and inconsequential. They’re cinematic fast food. This movie is a steak. Both can be good, depending on the circumstances, but more often than not…I’m choosing the steak.

Anonymous • on Mar 21, 2016 4:51 pm

DC Bias much???

LOL • on Mar 21, 2016 5:28 pm

That’s right, everything is a conspiracy because you like kids movies.

Anonymous • on Mar 21, 2016 5:46 pm

See above posts for the definition of DC Nutjob. Then look in the mirror & you’ll notice the correlation

Anonymous • on Mar 21, 2016 10:00 pm

There’s nothing wrong with kids movies. But tastes change when people get older.

Anonymous • on Mar 21, 2016 10:10 pm

Don’t you have kids to be picking fights with on IMDB? Grow up Donald.

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 8:06 am

Touch a nerve?

Anonymous • on Mar 21, 2016 5:18 pm

Liar much? Or is it only when you comment online?

Ghostbusted • on Mar 21, 2016 5:39 pm

I’m Vegan

Anonymous • on Mar 21, 2016 6:41 pm

I am an omnivore.

Sweden • on Mar 21, 2016 5:51 pm

It’s easier to cook a dozen hamburgers. Marvel can have their cake and eat it too, as they explore the fringes of the genre in Deadpool or Daredevil type movies — while serving up Avengers burgers at the same time.

Anonymous • on Mar 21, 2016 10:01 pm

They “can” but they just choose to make their McMovies and they’re not going to change.

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 1:22 am

Disney/marvel don’t make dead pool that’s made by Fox who also own xmen. The Spiderman universe is owned by Sony but due to the failure of the last Spiderman film they agreed to share rights with disney/marvel hence y Spiderman appears in civil war. So having theae marvel characters spread accross multiple film studios means u can’t have the avaengers and xmen in the same movie.

meta • on Mar 21, 2016 11:01 pm

ya dude who wants to watch a light comic book movie. Never mind the actual material they were based on. All we care about is being like Christopher Nolan.

Anonymous • on Mar 21, 2016 11:29 pm

Comic books these days are way smarter and sophisticated than the stuff Marvel Films is putting out. The movies represent the childish stories people think comic books are, not what they actually are.

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 3:30 am

You DC Nutjobs will never change. Personally, because you guys are such assholes, I’m sorta rooting for your beloved “Serious” comicbook movie to fail. It’d serve you right if it did. It would never shut you up but it Would serve you right

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 3:51 am

ALERT: Obvious Studio Plant is in the house

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 10:11 am

That’s right, everything is a conspiracy because you like kids movies.

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 11:40 am

How’s that rottentomatoes score coming along, bigmouth?

Rod • on Mar 21, 2016 11:36 pm

Oh, give it up with this 10 y/o child “DC are serious movies and Marvel is for kids” nonsense. Crawl back into your parent’s basement.

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 12:22 am

I’m sure people will “give it up” as soon as Marvel does.

Adam • on Mar 22, 2016 8:50 am

Marvel just gets on with their own plans. It’s WB and DC that have to keep going on about how different, realistic and so forth that they are over Marvel. It generally smacks of insecurity on their part at best, and (based on their films) unjustified ego on their part.

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 9:55 am

Here Here. Truth is Spoken!!

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 11:04 am

Yeah, and “their own plans” consists of just cranking out silly kids movies so they can sell toys. The fact that their fans spend so much time and effort fighting tooth and nail to not acknowledge this smacks of insecurity on their part at best, and (based on their films) unjustified ego on their part.

Actually, copying your grammar just makes the guy come off as uneducated.

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 4:37 pm

I personally enjoyed both Man Of Steel & Watchmen, as well as Batman Begins & The Dark Knight (NOT TDKR though). I also think Zack Snyder is a better Director than he’s given credit for. My biggest issues are with many of the DC Fans & the rotten corruption that is Warner Bros. I despise how they manipulate the public. & they do considering the number of news outlets they influence. Time/Warner, hello?? Look up for yourselves the numbers of media they have their grubby hands. Don’t just disregard me & don’t just take me at my word. Look it up for yourselves. I grew up a comicbook fan like most of you but unlike most of you, the lessons taught me about corruption & evil have stuck with throughout life. I will not stand idly by & allow corruption & greed to dominate the landscape unopposed. I would hope that many of you will also take up the mantle of Good taught to all of us since we were all able to read

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 1:17 am

That’s very true but this movie takes it to a whole new level. In comparison to other films it makes the dark knight trilogy look like a tv serial and it makes the avengers film looks like an animated kids cartoon.

Locke • on Mar 22, 2016 9:53 am

The Avengers film makes the Avengers film look like an animated kids cartoon.

This is essentially Warner Bros. and DC’s take on Avengers? How do you figure? This isn’t Justice League. This is basically Batman’s introduction. (Only the 2nd movie in the DCEU’s franchise) Just like Thor had his first movie or Captain America.

Anonymous • on Mar 21, 2016 7:20 pm

I’m a devout Marvel Zombie but I’ll for sure catch this on IMAX 3D. I’ll also watch Suicide Squad in the best available format. Just as I’m certain that all the DC backers on this thread will be seeing Civil War & Doctor Strange. There’s a good reason for this: it’s because as comicbook fans we’re all suckers when it comes to comicbook movies. For example, I absolutely Loved Dredd which released in 2012 & I’m betting almost all of you reading this also loved it. Dredd is neither Marvel nor DC, but it IS a comicbook movie & thus a Must-See for every breed of self respective comicbook geeks like us. Yeah I’ll definitely watch BVS & I look forward to seeing all the DC fans at Civil War in May. After all, there’s never in the history of cinema been such a Golden Age of superhero films as we are in now. I personally don’t EVER want it to end so I’m damn sure supporting them now. You know what they say, “Smoke ’em if you got ’em” & boy do we ever Got ‘Em!!!

asianeatables • on Mar 21, 2016 9:52 pm

$110 million domestic opening weekend? Is this a joke? This is Jurassic World and the Force Awakens all over again. People were incredibly low with their estimates. No way this makes under $200 mil domestic opening weekend.

Orlando • on Mar 22, 2016 1:50 am

Obviously 110 million is way too low an opening for BvS, but 200 million is way too high imo. I’ll say somewhere between 110-200 million should be about right. I’m thinking 150-165 million opening weekend.

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 7:44 am

Tuesday, 9:40 am CST—2 days before BvS opens. Where are all the reviews for this Magnum Opus you DC losers are so intent on lionizing as the next “IT”????? Pretty suspicious looking to me & all right thinking adults

So let me ask….. batman vs superman will make around 550-600 mil domestically but falling way short of tfa and avatar and a couple others.but will easily make 2.5 billion overseas For over 3bil w.w …will it than be considered the box office king?

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 11:56 am

In case you DC guys are wondering why I hold you so much in contempt, it’s because I despise corruption & deceit. These are things that WB & several of you “fans” sweat through your very glands. I stand up for what’s good & decent & declare everyone who lies & deceives as enemies. In other words I’m the Good Guy & you all are the Bad Guys. Respond or don’t respond, I couldn’t care less. Something is mentally inept with you all & it needs to be isolated & ostracized

Meh, I’ll wait and see. After the epics that were Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, the last two DC movies (TDKR & MoS) have been really poor, and I see no indication of BvS being any different.

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 2:16 pm

Can’t wait for something fresh. Getting tire of Marvel. I mean Ultron sucked, Antman sucked, Ironman all sucked except first one. Avengers, Galaxy and Winter soldier was good though. Else, very bad movies so I don’t see why people don’t want to see something different and keep fighting over it. Its like a Apple vs Microsoft vs Linux kind of thing. Who cares, just enjoy different movies and I am damn sure want to watch some new characters like Wonder Woman!

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 4:07 pm

Ant-Man did Not suck. It was actually quite entertaining & that is a majority held opinion. Stop trying to rewrite history. I’ll give you Ultron though. I was pretty damn disappointed in that one myself. Iron Man 2 & 3 also could have been better. But don’t diss Ant-Man. That’s Foolish

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 2:58 pm

I don’t know about anyone else but I hear the Jaws theme in the background every time I check rottentomatoes to see if there are any new critical reviews for BvS

Anonymous • on Mar 22, 2016 3:31 pm

Thank God for Marvel & Civil War. They’ll come in to save the day from this Turkey. At least we started 2016 off right with Deadpool. Honestly, all signs were pointing to this being Lousy but for some reason a lot of you refused to listen. The CBM genre isn’t killed by this, thanks almost exclusively to Marvel. The Demise of DC films on the other hand…

Daniel • on Mar 22, 2016 4:39 pm

The reviews are coming in….and they’re bad. 41% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Darth Critic • on Mar 23, 2016 7:01 pm

I saw it last night, and EVERYONE cheered when she appeared on screen. It was kinda boring before all that. I’m looking forward to her films.

Juan • on Mar 23, 2016 8:52 pm

Already watched it, and it is bad. Very bad. Really bad.

Anonymous • on Mar 24, 2016 6:55 am

Batman vs superman will be critic proof.Kids and fans will watch it in masses despite of reviews.